2024-01-09 08:00:21
By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 59 minutes ago
“Small consumers”, who have a basic set of services, and so-called average consumers suffer the highest inflation. insta_photos – stock.adobe.com
Account maintenance, bank card and other fees have increased by 2.5 to 3% on average, indicates the association at the conclusion of its annual study published this Tuesday.
After a stable year in 2023, banks will catch up in 2024: account maintenance, bank card and other fees have started to rise again, between 2.5% and 3% on average, says the CLCV association in conclusion of its annual study published this Tuesday. Those are the “small consumers“, with a set of basic services (account maintenance fees, immediate debit card, etc.) and so-called average consumers (two holders each with a card with loss and theft insurance, a bank check all the 10 years…) which suffer the highest inflation, of 2.97% and 3% respectively. Their annual bank charges, applied for the most part since January 1, increase this year to 66.23 euros for the first profile and 147.80 euros for the second.
Estimated inflation in France was 3.7% year-on-year in December, according to INSEE. THE “large consumers» within the meaning of CLCV, that is to say two holders with a Gold or Premier card, insurance against loss and theft or even numerous withdrawals, will see their bill increase by 2.52%, to 207.65 euros in 2024. The authors of the study assert that these increases “are mainly due to changes in account maintenance fees (+3%), the cost of bank cards (…) and the increase in package prices», these packages of services deemed to be of little benefit to the customer.
The CLCV also points to “changes made by certain establishments to the rules applicable to withdrawals from ATMs», such as increasing the cost of withdrawals made in another network and lowering the number of free withdrawals authorized in a competing bank. However, at the same time, banks are dismantling their automatic teller machines (ATMs): their number fell by 12% between 2018 and 2022, according to the French Banking Federation (FBF).
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Agency operations charged more
Banks also tend to charge more for transactions carried out in branches, “which penalizes people who are not able to use online operations or less common operations», underlines the association.
The CLCV examined the price lists of around a hundred establishments, including BNP Paribas, Société Générale and the regional banks of Crédit Agricole or the BPCE networks. The increases this year are higher than those observed in 2022 (more than 2.5% on “petit» et «AVERAGE» consumers) and in 2023 (almost stable for all).
The CLCV makes these comparative tables public. We can see that Crédit Coopératif and certain Crédit Agricole funds are rather competitive in all market segments, while LCL is competitive for small consumers and BNP Paribas for medium consumers. SG, a merger of the retail banking networks of Société Générale and Crédit du Nord, is among the most expensive banks across all profiles, as are, to a lesser extent, the Banques Populaires.
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Incidence of banking incidents
The average amounts calculated by CLCV do not include any fees for banking incidents. The Panorabanques comparator, which includes these costs in its calculations, concluded last year that they represented on average a third of total banking fees. According to him, the annual average of total bank fees (all types of consumers combined, with incident fees) amounted to 220.60 euros in 2023, i.e. more than the “big consumer» by CLCV.
The CLCV is also interested in this and notes that the vast majority of banks charge the legal ceiling for the intervention commission (8 euros) or check rejection fees (50 euros for a check for more than 50 euros). “Other costs can be high», continue the authors of the study, such as the information letter for unauthorized debit accounts, which can reach 20 euros at BNP Paribas or Crédit Agricole Nord Midi Pyrénées.
The Financial Sector Advisory Committee (CCSF) also addressed the issue last October, noting that more and more banks were charging “fixed minimum interest debit» from the first cent in the red. The DGCCRF severely criticized the profession in September.
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